After A Week Long Send Off, My Round the World Trip kicked off with eight days in Maui visiting my sister Sarah who has split her time between Hawaii and Alaska for many years. What an epic way to start this adventure! There was mist falling when my sister greeted me at the Kahului airport on Maui a week ago, so she teased me about bringing the rain from the mainland. We headed straight for Paia where she presented me with a young coconut and a lei, accompanied by the chant for the gifting-of-a-lei.
A number of circumstances collided recently to compel me to move the Lucky Penny to my property in Walla Walla where I have a ground bound small house called Valencia Cottage. So on Tuesday trusted tiny house movers Linh and Stephanie Pham helped me move the Lucky Penny safely from Portland to my place in Walla Walla.
As I packed up recently in preparation to travel cross country in my Honda Fit, I did some downsizing… It was harder than it had been during my last couple of moves because this time I had more stuff. I’d been living in a bigger space…My apartment was a studio, but it was still about 6 times bigger than the Lucky Penny! I talked with several people about the experience and a handful of them said “oh my goodness, I need to do more of that!” So I’ve decided to offer a 6-week Downsizing Tune Up…
In early 2020 I traveled to Yestermorrow to teach the 3-day Tiny House Design at Yestermorrow (Feb 2020) course with my friend and colleague Erin Maile O’Keefe… It seems strange to think back on that now, how that was the way we always taught design classes, in real life and in close proximity. Amidst the global pandemic, we pivoted and by June we were able to offer a Tiny House Design (Online) course. It immediately filled and a waiting list was started.
February is upon us and it’s amazing to think that in just two short weeks I’ll be winging my way across the country to teach Tiny House Design at Yestermorrow! Tiny House Design is a long-weekend course that provides oodles of info and inspiration for people to dream, design, and draft up tiny or small homes of their own.
Winter is a great time for your design process if you'd like to get your project launched this coming spring or summer.
This Winter Term I'm teaching two fun weekend design classes through Portland Community College:
In these intensive two day workshops we cover many of the considerations for designing a small space, visit with special guests who have created ADUs or tiny homes (respectively), and go through a set of design exercises to help you develop a design of your own.
If you've been fantasizing about a small space of your own (whether that's a backyard cottage, a converted vehicle, or a tiny house on wheels), this course is a brilliant way to dig deep and have a great time exploring the possibilities. I hope you can join us! Please share with other small space enthusiasts who might be interested, too. The more, the merrier!
